Terah Begot Abraham—When?

Two of the messages that “ring out” from Bible genealogies are that man has been on the Earth since the sixth day of Creation, and that his creation was not very long ago. Although many would have us believe that the Earth is billions of years old and that man has been on the Earth for only a few million years, the lengthy biblical genealogies that extend from Jesus all the way back to Adam reveal that man was created only a few thousand years ago. Some assert that since various biblical genealogies contain gaps, they are worthless when attempting to determine how long man has been upon the Earth. The fact is, however, the only reason we know of these gaps is because the Bible fills them in elsewhere. The claim that the genealogies are worthless in approximating the length of man’s time on the Earth (and thus the age of the Earth—Genesis 1; Mark 10:6) is completely without foundation (see Custance, 1967, p. 3).

While recognizing that biblical genealogies are trustworthy, we nevertheless must use caution when speaking about the exact age of the Earth. Unfortunately, in an attempt to defend the strict chronology of biblical genealogies, some read them without taking into account that certain Hebrew phrases possess a wider connotation than what might be perceived in English. One of these phrases is found several times in Genesis 11. In this chapter, we learn of various Messianic ancestors who lived a certain age and begot sons. For example, verse 16 of that chapter reads, “Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.” Later, we read where “Nahor lived 29 years, and begot Terah” (11:24). The sons listed in this chapter generally are thought to be the firstborn sons, yet the evidence shows that this was not always the case. There was not always a father-to-firstborn-son linkage.

One might assume that because Genesis 11:26 states, “Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran,” Abram (also known as Abraham; cf. Genesis 17:5) was Terah’s firstborn and that he was born when Terah was 70. The truth is, however, Abraham was not born for another 60 years. When Stephen was delivering his masterful sermon recorded in Acts 7, he stated that Abraham moved to the land of Palestine “after the death of his father [Terah—EL]” (7:4). Yet if Terah was 205 years old when he died (Genesis 11:32), and Abraham departed Haran when he was 75 (Genesis 12:4), then Terah was 130, not 70, when Abraham was born. In light of this information, John Whitcomb and Henry Morris have helped us better understand Genesis 11:26 by paraphrasing it as follows: “And Terah lived seventy years and begat the first of his three sons, the most important of whom (not because of age but because of the Messianic line) was Abram” (1961, p. 480).

Lest one think this is an isolated incident (where the son mentioned was not the firstborn son), consider another example. Genesis 5:32 states: “And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Like the situation with Terah begetting Abraham, Nahor, and Haran, here we read that at age 500, Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Was Shem the firstborn? Were the three sons of Noah triplets? Or was Shem mentioned first because of his Messianic connection? In all likelihood, the evidence seems to indicate that Shem was not the firstborn, but was born two years later. Consider the following passages:

“Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters were on the earth” (Genesis 7:6).

“And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry” (Genesis 8:13, emp. added).

“Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood” (Genesis 11:10, emp. added).

These verses seem to suggest that Shem was not born when Noah was 500, but when Noah was 502. A comparison of Genesis 11:10 with 10:22 may suggest that Shem’s son, Arphaxad, was not the firstborn son in his family. Likely, Shem, Arphaxad, and others are mentioned first for the same reason Abraham is—because they are Messianic ancestors, not because they were the firstborn sons of their fathers. Interestingly, numerous other Messianic ancestors, such as Seth, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and Perez, were not firstborn sons. Lest someone accuse Moses of dishonesty when recording these genealogies, we must remember that

the year of begetting a first son, known in the Old Testament as “the beginning of strength,” was an important year in the life of the Israelite (Gen. 49:3; Deut. 21:17; Psa. 78:51; and Psa. 105:36). It is this year…and not the year of the birth of the Messianic link, that is given in each case in Genesis 11 (Whitcomb and Morris, 1961, p. 480).

For this reason (and perhaps others), a limited number of additional years may be added to the genealogical records. Thus, trying to “peg” an exact date for Creation is futile. It may be that several hundred years could be added to the 6,000 years that many creationists give for the age of the Earth. It is important to remember, however, that even though the genealogies may leave room for a limited amount of additional time, it is impossible to fit tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of years in them.

We are happy to grant permission for items in the "Creation Vs. Evolution" section to be reproduced in their entirety, as long as the following stipulations are observed: (1) Apologetics Press must be designated as the original publisher; (2) the specific Apologetics Press Web site URL must be noted; (3) the author’s name must remain attached to the materials; (4) any references, footnotes, or endnotes that accompany the article must be included with any written reproduction of the article; (5) alterations of any kind are strictly forbidden (e.g., photographs, charts, graphics, quotations, etc. must be reproduced exactly as they appear in the original); (6) serialization of written material (e.g., running an article in several parts) is permitted, as long as the whole of the material is made available, without editing, in a reasonable length of time; (7) articles, in whole or in part, may not be offered for sale or included in items offered for sale; and (8) articles may be reproduced in electronic form for posting on Web sites pending they are not edited or altered from their original content and that credit is given to Apologetics Press, including the web location from which the articles were taken.